Graceful Age Part II

Hill of Grace is a famous vineyard located somewhere between the Barossa and the Adelaide Hills. The vines are old, small and cannot possibly yield a lot of fruit per vine. Meanwhile, back in McLaren Vale, an explosion of new vineyards have made young vines a near ubiquitous sight. As we have come late onto the scene we have sourced many of our grapes from new vineyards. Surprisingly, some of the youngest vines have given us amazing wines.

Older vines are thicker and contain more carbohydrate “reserves”, which is one main component of older vines producing “better” wines. Older vines also have reduced vigour/capacity and produce less shoot and leaf material as well as less fruit. That is another factor to consider. Are older vines “struggling”? Certainly, reduced vigour is a good sign of “struggle”. Is it possible to compare animals with plants with respect to ageing and its inevitable toll? Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure that it is possible to produce fruit worthy of all superlatives even with young vines, as long as they are managed well. Certainly, E. Guigal is doing just that with his La Turque. Maybe older vines simply make managing for quality easier?

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